Butadiene is an important basic chemical and is used as an intermediate in a number of petrochemical products, such as a synthetic rubber and an electronic material, and demand and value of butadiene as one of the most important feedstocks in a current petrochemical market are gradually increasing.
Methods of producing butadiene include a method extracting butadiene from a C4 oil component through naphtha cracking, a method through direct dehydrogenation of normal butene (n-butene), a method through oxidative dehydrogenation of n-butene, and the like.
In the butadiene production method through oxidative dehydrogenation of butane or butene among the above methods, nitrogen, stream, and the like as well as raw materials are supplied in order to reduce explosion risk of reactants, to prevent a catalyst from coking, and to remove heat of reaction. By the reaction, a main product of butadiene is first produced and byproducts of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and the like are secondarily produced.
By separating and removing a light gas from the reaction products, a C4 mixture including butadiene is obtained, and by refining the C4 mixture, high purity butadiene is obtained. Meanwhile, a part or the whole of the separated and removed light gas may be recycled.